Boats on the brain

We are at the Elks lodge in Wilmington, North Carolina (map). Oddly, this is our first visit here, despite this route down US-17 being very familiar for us by now. We're here principally because they have 30-amp hookups for just $15 per night, and we are once again trapped in the bus by the oppressive heat. The lodge is actually pretty close to downtown, and in nicer weather we'd be tempted to explore.

We arrived shortly after 3 yesterday, and as it is now past 2 we are coming up on nearly 24 hours. We'll roll out of here before we make it a full day, but we're dallying here because we have good WiFi access, and at our next stop we might not even be able to deploy the dish.

That stop would be Huntington Beach State Park, near Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina. I got the very last reservation for tonight by calling several times throughout the morning until they found me an early check-out. We had hoped to spend the night a few miles north at Myrtle Beach State Park, but the enormous popularity of that park during their high season aced us out. Advance reservations were out of the question, as we are just passing through and they require a minimum of two nights' stay.

We'll stop in Myrtle Beach on our way south, anyway, as they have the cheapest diesel we will see on our route, around $3.40 per gallon. I expect the fuel stop to take a half hour, and we should be in quarters at Huntington Beach before dinner time.

With the heat trapping us inside, and good Internet access, I've been dealing with various fallout from our recent "move" to South Dakota. Getting all the T's crossed and I's dotted on the coach insurance policy has been something of a headache, and even AAA managed to screw up our transfer (the Washington state AAA simply changed our street address to SD, rather than transferring our membership to the SD club).

The rest of the time, I've been surfing the 'net looking at boats. One of the consequences of having just looked at three boats in person is that it clarified some thinking, as well as raised new questions. Between looking at on-line listings and then back-up material on brands and models, my brain is nearly full. We are trying to prepare for the next four boats we will see, in quick succession on Sunday and/or Monday. At least two of them are, on paper anyway, excellent candidates for us. I have learned, though, not to get my hopes up too much based on information and photos on YachtWorld, which we have come to refer to around here as FraudWorld.

In order to be in position to see these boats, we need to be at least as far as Savannah by Saturday, and maybe as far as Jacksonville. So rather than delay further here, we're doing short driving days and continuing down the coast. I am hoping for more pleasant weather in at least some of the stops; last night we waited until 10pm to take a walk, and it was still too muggy to be comfortable here.

Photo by [ changó ], used under a Creative Commons license.